Squid Industries Inked Mako BottleOpener V4.5 (Blue)

knife came in the box sealed and untouched

I upgraded to the Mako from a Squiddy-B and so far I’m loving it. Got the trainer and used it for about 3 days so far at the time of writing this review. I flip about 3-4 hours a day just as a fidget while doing other things. My Mako came out of the box with no tap and minimal play ( only about 2-3 mm of handle play while open ), and a great tune. The blade didn’t rub on the channels of the handle and it came with loctite on the screws. Mine didn’t have any oil, but I had some on hand so no big deal imo. Out of the box it flipped incredibly smoothly after some oil. The taps from the zen pins while flipping are so satisfying. Big fan of the purple anodization too. My only 2 gripes are the shark fin on the “safe” side of the blade sometimes hits my knuckles and it’s a bit sharp, and the bead blast finish almost feels like a chalk board and takes some getting used to. At the time of my purchase there were 14 of the color I wanted available, so having these purchasable and not stuck behind a random time drop is a huge plus. I’d definitely recommend this trainer to anyone in the 100-120 $ price range.

I decided to purchase the Mako v4.5 hoping to receive a well machined, high tolerance entry trainer after hearing great reviews about Squid Industries' products. Unfortunately I was somewhat let down with what I received. Starting with the unboxing, the Mako comes in a simple slide out box with no extra hardware included. I would have liked to see an extra set of hardware with a $120 "premium" trainer, especially since mine came with EXCESSIVE handle play, and a slight blade tap. Though I'm not sure if this is confirmed, I have heard that Squid Industries no longer tunes the washers on their lower end trainers. This seems to ring true since the factory tolerances on the Mako were so bad, I had to order a replacement hardware set directly from their site. After spending quite some time replacing and tuning all the hardware I have had no issues with the tolerances, and it swings as smooth as I was expecting from factory.Now although I was quite disappointed in the tuning department of the Mako, I am happy to say I was pleasantly surprised by how well balanced it is, and also how premium the anodized finish feels. The Mako is slightly handle biased and carries momentum EXTREMELY well. This in turn leads to an excellent flipping experience that just flows. Since the Mako has no jimping or machined texture other than the gills, I assumed it would be very slippery in the hand. Surprisingly, the anodized finish on the handles feels almost like a medium/high grit sandpaper and is VERY grippy. The machining is also very clean and it seems as if all the edges have been de-burred and smoothed.Overall, though I was disappointed in the tolerances, I ended up settling on 4 stars since I believe this is a great competitive option for a beginner/intermediate that has that premium feel that you only tend see in higher end trainers.

Excelent product, maximal satisfied..